O ensino de botânica nos anos iniciais: uma análise dos livros didáticos de ciências do PNLD 2023

Abstract

The teaching of botany encompasses the study of the plant kingdom and its unique characteristics within nature, highlighting the critical role of plants in economic, environmental, and social contexts. The persistent undervaluation of plants relative to other living organisms leads to the phenomenon known as plant awareness disparity, which may negatively influence public policymaking regarding environmental issues such as deforestation reduction and biodiversity conservation. Notably, science education in the early years of elementary school provides limited coverage of these topics. This gap prompted an investigation into how science textbooks address botany-related content, the pedagogical strategies employed, and the extent to which these resources contribute to mitigating plant awareness disparity. Accordingly, the general aim of this study was to analyze the treatment of botany in science textbooks used in the early years of elementary education. The specific objectives were: (1) to examine guidelines, approaches, and strategies related to botany education and the mitigation of plant awareness disparity in official curricular documents; and (2) to evaluate the presence and treatment of botany content in the Natural Sciences textbooks of the PNLD 2023, assessing possible strategies for overcoming plant awareness disparity. We conducted an exploratory reading of the curriculum guidelines, BNCC, and RECAL to observe guidelines, approaches, and strategies related to the teaching of botany and the mitigation of plant awareness disparity. We then explored our object of study, which is the PNLD 2023 teaching collection “A conquista” (The Conquest), used as the corpus for content analysis. The BNCC implicitly addresses botany, which can only be detected by identifying the context of each skill or object of knowledge. This suggests the document induces plant awareness disparity according to the manner and depth of reading when consulting the curriculum organizer. However, we identified a clearer direction in RECAL, due to the pedagogical developments, which exemplify curriculum orientation aligned to the reality of Alagoas. The textbooks analyzed presented botany as a literal copy of the BNCC and RECAL guidelines, emphasizing the influence of curricula on the production and dissemination of teaching materials. Conceptual errors were also found in the 1st and 4th grades, which we consider an indication of plant awareness disparity in these textbooks. The teaching strategies identified in the textbooks include reading, writing, research, and image comparison activities. However, the textbooks analyzed do not effectively contribute to overcoming the disparity in plant awareness; on the contrary, they may perpetuate this phenomenon. Therefore, we argue that it is essential to explicitly incorporate the theme of plant awareness disparity into curricular guidelines, engaging teachers and students with plant-related content in a contextualized manner during this educational stage, fully recognizing the ecological and social significance of plants. Thus, reflecting on how Botany is presented in curricula and teaching materials can help improve science education and encourage environmental responsibility in the early years of elementary school.